The Swiss Watchmaker's Boite a Musique

This is the Swiss-crafted music box that transforms meticulous watch movement into mellifluous melody. This heirloom is expertly crafted by Reuge-renowned horologists since 1865-in Sainte-Croix, Switzerland, considered the birthplace of the mechanical music box. Requiring a three-month, 34-step production process for completion, its accurate Cartel 4.144 movement includes a rotating brass cylinder lined with resin for ideal tonal quality and set with 3,800 wire pins that pluck two 72-note tempered-steel combs in perfect time. Each tooth is tuned to a specific frequency; lower notes are weighted for ideal sonority and are dampened with kevlar "feathers." The music box produces four different 50-second musical selections exactly as they would sound from 19th century music boxes: Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody, Verdi's La Traviata, and Bizet's Carmen. It is finished with a carbon fiber "sail", a winch-like winding mechanism, a polished, maple-inlaid mahogany "deck", and a brushed nickel base plate. 4 3/4" H x 8 3/4" W x 22" L. (12 lbs.)